As far as visits to the dentist go, the memory of this one to his family dentist, Dr. Byron McKeeby, in early 1930 remained strong. Something about it insisted that recollections of it randomly, yet persistently, kept returning to Grant Wood at the oddest of moments. Throughout the 6 months or so after the appointment the memory kept, without conscious effort or warning, declaring itself in Wood’s painting practice. In an attempt to intentionally purge himself once and for all, he started to deliberately create works that overtly referenced the memory. This is the first and, unequivocally, the most obvious manifestation of the memory. Many variations and versions followed, often evoking urban and rural scenes collected in his travels and frequently utilising his sister, Nan Wood Graham, and their dentist, Dr. McKeeby as models… and the rest is (art) history… png; 7200px x 4114px @ 300ppi; 23.3MB This image was created using a selection of text to image AI images made with Midjourney and composited in Adobe Photoshop.